


Who is William Shakespeare

by delublue



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/M, Hellstar Week Day 7, Utopia Falls AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:00:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26403106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delublue/pseuds/delublue
Summary: John follows Zari into the woods and discovers the Archive, which just confirms his suspicions that their society is not as alone as they thought.A Hellstar Utopia Falls AU for Hellstar Week 2020
Relationships: John Constantine/Zari Tomaz | Zari Tarazi
Kudos: 9





	Who is William Shakespeare

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! You don't need to watch Utopia Falls to get this, I think? But I do recommend watching that show, especially if you like hip-hop, good media representation, and some talented kids. Plus a villain you love to hate :)
> 
> Unbeta-ed, so if you see some mistakes, maybe message me and I'll edit it.
> 
> Enjoy!

For John, being an Exemplar was boring. Sure, every other kid in the other sectors would kill just for a chance at being here, but not him. Nothing exciting happens here, it was so much better living back in Reform. He sighed, remembering the most exciting thing that happened was during the group performance. Obviously his group won, it was basically a sure win, given that Zari 2 was in their group, the younger sister of mentor Behrad. 

But actually, it was different. They were different, his groupmates and their performance. Yes, it was still about Gaia, about their society, about the people, but the way they did it, it became so much more. But John could not explain it because his groupmates always talked in hushed whispers around him, perks of being the only one from Reform. His groupmates don't trust him, and he doesn't either. They always sneak out at night too, giggling and shushing each other, it looked like they were having fun.

He's been accustomed to the giggle and whispers and footsteps whenever they pass by his room.

Except this time, there was only one. If not for his acute sense of hearing, sharpened by the thugs at Reform and his music, he would not have noticed. This one's different. Good at sneaking out. Tonight was probably the most exciting night out of John's stay at the Exemplar so far. He zipped up his overalls and followed the stranger into the night.

* * *

John has seen quite a lot of things, coming from Reform, but what he is seeing right now? Completely out of his league.

There are only a few things he was sure of, first, that was Zari 2, sneaking out; only she owns a fancy floral scarf like that. Second, the huge boulder in the woods was actually a holographic camouflage to hide a secret chamber. Last, she has gone inside his weird rock chamber/room thing and has not left yet. It has been gnawing in him a lot, what the hell is inside this room? Should he enter? What if it's dangerous?

And what if they get caught? It is not the Authorities he's scared of, it's the ones inside of that room. what if they've already harmed her and are just waiting for him to go inside?

Ah, shit. "Reform never raised a scaredy-cat, Johnnie 3," he muttered before going in. 

* * *

She was alone, busy, way too focused on the books and documents lying on the table. Holy shit, what is this place? Shelves of books and other items adorned the walls, and John could recognize what they were. Old things, things that existed before New Ganges was created. Things he only saw were exchanged in the seediest black markets in Reform. And here he was in a treasure trove of that. 

"Shit," he muttered, prompting his companion to notice him. Right, he was supposed to be quiet. Eh, cat's out of the bag, I guess.

To his surprise, Zari did not look angry, she's usually angry or annoyed at him, but now, she's just .. defeated?

Before he could even comment, she directed him over the circular platform in the middle of the room. "Gidget's over there."

"Gidget?" He asked, then a floating blue holographic head appeared right before his eyes. "What the hell?"

"Hello, John 3. I am Gideon, an artificial archive about the past. You may ask me any question or you may choose from the categories below." A huge strip of words and photos appeared below the head. Still skeptical, John glanced at Zari who paid him no mind. 

He did see something interesting in the categories.

"What's musical theater?"

* * *

After John exhausted himself watching videos about musical theater, asking Gideon about William Shakespeare, who he just discovered was responsible for writing their performance during the group competition, he decided it was time for answers, answers that only Zari could probably give.

"You found out about this place during the welcome party, right?" She did not even raise her head when she answered, "Yeah."

"And the others found out when we were practicing before the competition?"  
"Some during the party, others during practice yeah."

"So why didn't you tell me?"

Zari closed the book she was reading and looked at John straight into his eyes. He was momentarily distracted by how pretty her eyes look and how intense was her stare.

"You don't trust us, John. You have this lone wolf attitude around us, never getting close, never hanging out. You say that's because you're dangerous, you're from Reform. So what? None of us cares about that, just you."

"Of course you don't care," he scoffed, "you're practically a princess. You wouldn't understand. This competition is a farce, this society is broken, but you would not know any of those because I bet none of you have ever been in Reform."

"I bet you haven't been outside the barrier either," she countered and wait, what?  
"You can go outside?"

"I will," she showed him a map, where several other settlements like New Ganges were. There's New Babyl, New Lazarus, and several others.

John noticed how she chose her words, "so you haven't been, but you want to. Why? What's outside that a princess like you would want to throw away everything in here?"

"My twin sister," if it wasn't for his sharp hearing, he would not hear her whisper. "Behrad told me, she's in New Lazarus, he came from there. She saved him, and now, now I have to save her. I am going to save her."

"How?" He asked, because there is no way she is this confident without some sort of plan.

"You, for starters."  
"Me?"  
"Yeah," she tied her hair back up in a bun, not a single strand out of place. "Why do you think I let you follow me here?"

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: [oojei](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/oojei)


End file.
